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Greason, LeMunyon score GOP upsets
Republicans ruled the ballot Nov. 3 for seats in Virginia's House of Delegates. The Loudoun delegate race reflected the Republican sweep that also took the races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
Republican Thomas "Tag" Greason pulled off the night's biggest upset, beating incumbent David Poisson (D-eastern Loudoun) in the 32nd District (northeastern Loudoun) by nearly 3,800 votes. In the 67th District (Dulles), Republican Jim LeMunyon uprooted incumbent Chuck Caputo with 55 percent of the vote.
In districts where the incumbents were Republican, they kept their seats: In the 13th District, Del. Bob Marshall (R-south-central Loudoun) defeated his challenger, Democrat John Bell, despite a large cash disadvantage, and in the 86th District, Del. Tom Rust (R-Sterling) edged Loudoun Dulles District supervisor Stevens Miller (D).
Republican Del. Joe May (R-western Loudoun) ran unopposed.
The winners, broken down by district:
Thomas 'Tag' Greason
32nd District
In the biggest upset of the election, Greason defeated Poisson by almost 3,797 votes.
"I want to thank the voters of Loudoun County for rejecting the politics of personal destruction," Greason said around 9:30 p.m. during a celebration at The Dock in Lansdowne. “I'm looking forward to working with the new governor and other state offices."
Final election results showed Greason received 14,520 votes to Poisson's 10,723.
Greason said the margin of victory showed that voters were simply ready for a change.
"It sends a message that it is our time," he said.
Topping his Richmond agenda, Greason said, includes assistance for small businesses, finding transportation solutions for Northern Virginia and using alternative energy sources to create statewide jobs.
Now that he has won the seat, Greason said he and his family are heading to Disney World for a vacation.
Poisson did not return repeated calls from the Times-Mirror for comment.
Del. Bob Marshall
13th District
Despite being outspent by nearly $350,000, Marshall (R-south-central Loudoun) took more than 60 percent of the vote.
Marshall attributed his victory to his candid approaches to the issues as well as to his constituent service.
“I've hid none of my views,” Marshall said.
He said he will continue to work on a bill to improve transportation that has already passed one committee in the House.
Bell said he challenges Marshall to focus on the issues he campaigned on -- jobs and transportation.
"We fought hard, and I'm proud of all my supporters and everything they've done," said Bell, a resident of South Riding.
Del. Joe May
33rd District
May ran unopposed, winning 97 percent of the vote. He said his No. 1 priority is transportation. Energy conservation and technology are also on his agenda.
"I'm looking forward to going back to Richmond and breaking some of the traffic jams from the past few years," he said -- both literally and figuratively.
Jim LeMunyon
67th District
Republican Jim LeMunyon said his old-fashioned, door-to-door campaign approach helped secure his victory over incumbent Democrat Chuck Caputo with 53 percent of the vote. He said people appreciated his listening to what constituents had to say and answering their questions. He acknowledged the Republican sweep helped him gain the seat, saying that voters "want to send the message to Washington that they're looking for something different."
LeMunyon said if he can get just one thing done in the next two years, it will be to change the state's formula that sends tax dollars for transportation back to different parts of the state.
"This is not partisan but regional," LeMunyon said. "We will get more of our dollars back. Right now, Northern Virginia gets a low return on its tax dollars, because we are outvoted by the rural parts of the state."
LeMunyon promised to have 10 bills ready to submit for the 2010 General Assembly as soon as he is sworn in. One of his initiatives will be to allow more than one term for a Virginia governor – in return for term limits on Senate and House of Delegates members. He also plans to introduce a bill that will update the legislative information service requiring roll-call votes to be indexed by members' names. This type of system would make it easy for constituents to see how their delegate voted on every issue.
But, first things first, LeMunyon said he's looking forward to a good night's sleep.
Del. Tom Rust
86th District
Rust faced a tight race against Miller, and won by 54 percent with 8,251 votes.
"I'm happy to win and pleased with the results. We did better than we did two years ago. I look forward to serving the 86th District," Rust said.
Rust said he expected the race to be close because it's a tough district. However, he said his win was helped by negative campaigning by Miller and the overall Republican trend.
Rust plans to put his nose to the grindstone right away, continuing his work on transportation and education.
Hannah Hager, Elizabeth Coe, Jana Wagoner, Shannon Sollinger and Nicholas Graham contributed to this report.
Virginians in Loudoun County soundly repudiated 32nd district Democrat incumbent David Poisson's use of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals to level Duke Lacrosse-type accusations against his Republican challenger, Tag Greason. It's understandable that Poisson would turn to his political bosses in Richmond to help launch such gutter-level tactics. After all, when you cannot win on the issues, Alinsky's playbook clearly enumerates how to pick the target, isolate it and then demonize it. I hope the Democrats learned that when you lie down with pigs, you have no right to complain about the resulting odor.
Posted by fmorriso
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Virginians in Loudoun County soundly repudiated 32nd district Democrat incumbent David Poisson's use of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals to level Duke Lacrosse-type accusations against his Republican challenger, Tag Greason. It's understandable that Poisson would turn to his political bosses in Richmond to help launch such gutter-level tactics. After all, when you cannot win on the issues, Alinsky's playbook clearly enumerates how to pick the target, isolate it and then demonize it. I hope the Democrats learned that when you lie down with pigs, you have no right to complain about the resulting odor.
Posted by fmorriso
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"Poisson did not return repeated calls from the Times-Mirror for comment."
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Poisson must be home crying because his liberal agenda didn't resonate with the 32nd District residents. Sorry Poisson, You're Fired.
Posted by alby
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